Educatorium: sustainability school

Build as a part of a modernization development and urbanization of the Uithof university campus, outside of Utrecht city in Holland, is found the Educatorium, symbol of the European sustainability.

It was commissioned to Rem Koolhaas, built in 1997, and its design reflects the search for reuse materials, water and energy, the key players of sustainability.

To study the sustainability of the project, Koolhaas had the collaboration of the architect Christophe Cornubert, specialist in sustainable alternatives for disposal of harmful materials to the environment.

The two architects have made a building that wants to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and provides good indoor thermal and visual conditions through natural lighting and heating system.

The building extends to 11,000 m2 and includes two theaters, conference rooms, three rooms for exams, some study rooms and a dining room.

In the study rooms, natural lighting system is the ideal through the use of lower windows for viewing and high windows for lighting. The high windows lead the light to the colored roof that reflects it to the reading tables.

In summer, the east facade, which is fully glazed, is shaded by large trees, while the south has a semi-mixed system of screens that keep out the light differently depending on internal applications.

The building's heating system uses the cogeneration plant directly from the university. For air conditioning uses a passive ventilation system that uses the phenomenon of nocturnal cooling without additional mechanical systems.


Additionally, incorporated into the dynamics of their curvatures, a green surface coating ensures greater thermal and acoustic insulation of interiors and offers a friendly "green scene" in the study rooms that are on it.

So we see how the Educatorium becomes a symbol not only for local identity but also to the sustainability school and is the best proof of how the right combination of sustainable design principles can result in good architecture.

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